Surplus Transfer : RBI:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a surplus transfer of ₹99,122 crore for the 9-month period from July 2020 to March 2021.
- The higher-than-expected dividend or surplus transfer to the government comes as the government is expecting a sharp sequential fall in tax collections due to the severe second wave of COVID-19 which has forced lockdowns in several States.
- This surplus likely reflects the central bank’s higher income from their open market operations as well as receipts from FX sales.
- The government had budgeted to receive a surplus of about ₹50,000 crores from the RBI to be accounted for in the budget estimates for 2021/22, while in the previous full accounting year, the RBI had transferred ₹57,128 crores as surplus.
- Barring 2018/19, this is the highest ever transfer by the RBI in an accounting period. In FY19, ₹1.76 lakh crore was transferred to the government which included a one-time transfer of extra reserves.
- The government is likely to find it challenging to meet its privatization and disinvestment target of $24 billion while goods and services tax (GST) revenues are also likely to fall.
- The RBI also decided to maintain a Contingency Risk Buffer at 5.50% in line with recommendations of the Bimal Jalan Committee report.
- RBI will move to an April to March accounting year from 2021/22, from a July to June year.
